Website highlighting older books has strong NC State connections

August 13, 2015

By Bill Krueger

If Bob Cairns’ website for book lovers has an NC State flavor, chalk it up to a guy getting a little help from his friends.

Cairns, 72, worked at NC State for 34 years as a publicist, marketer, speech writer, event planner and sometime-author of the chancellor’s annual report. You might recall seeing his byline on more than 70 alumni magazine stories over the years. So it’s easy for him to persuade campus notables to write about their favorite books on his website, pageturnersfromthepast.com.

A published author and avid reader, Cairns created the site to call attention to older books he “believes deserve a good dusting off.” He offers personal recommendations — “not reviews,” he emphasizes, because books he doesn’t like get no mention — along with a taste of the storyline and the author’s writing style.

Cairns makes no money from Page Turners. Much of his reward is snagging celebrity contributors and sharing their suggestions — something he says sets his site apart.

“The Notables’ Notes give our readers a chance to see what folks they may know or have heard of are recommending,” says Cairns, who reaches out to movers and shakers in publishing, entertainment, the military, politics, public service and athletics. Among those who have weighed in are bestselling authors Nelson DeMille and Bill Bryson; screenwriter Norman Steinberg, whose credits include Blazing Saddles and Cosby; and actor David Wells.

And right alongside them, you’ll find names straight out of Cairns’ NC State contact list.

The general’s picks: “Once an Eagle,” a novel by Anton Myrer tracing the careers of two Army officers; and “Dereliction of Duty,” by H.R. McMaster, about U.S. government decision-making during the Vietnam War. “This book sensitized me and the other members of The Joint Chiefs to be on the lookout for individuals who might be motivated by their own agenda,” Shelton writes. “Ironically, almost 40 years later, I learned that similar behavior and agendas were still alive in D.C.”

“What is amazing to me,” Woodson writes, “Is that during this most difficult year, Mr. Lincoln was able to get some key legislative items approved.” One of those was the Land Grant act, paving the way for states to establish universities focused on agriculture and mechanical arts. NC State is, of course, a land grant university.

Next up from NC State will be Dr. Catherine Gordon, class of 1986, a well-known expert in the field of adolescent medicine. Cairns, who lives in Denton, N.C., welcomes suggestions about other notables to invite. If you have a nominee to suggest, let the site’s developer, Ralph Roberts, know. Write him at ralph@abooks.com.

So what makes a book a “page turner,” in Cairns’ view?

“One that page 2 has something on it that’s so damn good that you can’t wait to look at page 3,” he says. “We as readers have to identify with the story, the characters and the dialogue, and that’s a page turner.”